The Impreza 22B STI is one of the rarest Subarus ever made. It was a 1998 special edition of the WRX STI, with a larger 2.2-liter engine and a widebody based on the WRC-winning rally car. Subaru only built 424 of the cars, and only 24 hit the export market outside Japan.
Appreciating Classics is selling what we suspect is the most minty-fresh example remaining of those 22Bs. The owner imported the car to Great Britain, drove it a couple of times — then placed it into storage with just 271 miles. It purportedly still has its new car smell.
Matt Woods for Appreciating Classics
Matt Woods for Appreciating Classics
Matt Woods for Appreciating ClassicsIf you suspected a pristine example of such a rare car would be expensive, you would be correct. It’s probably more than you’re thinking. The sellers want £295,000 for the 22B STI, which is about $373,000 at the current exchange rate. For context, that’s enough to buy a new Porsche 911 Turbo S and still have $100,000-plus to spend indulging your Subie-habit. (Here’s a low mileage 2004 WRX STI up for auction on Bring a Trailer that will look about the same to 99.8 percent of people.)
Even if you can afford the price for this Impreza 22B, the trouble is, you’ve now taken possession of a museum-quality Subaru that will plummet in value the second you turn the key and shift into drive. You’re committed to keeping a brilliant car in a sad, unnatural suspended animation, never to be used in the way it was intended or to doing the financial equivalent of setting fire to nearly $300,000. Of course, that’s the kind of conundrum we’d love to be faced with.